Fascinating data on racism across the U.S.

Based on Google searches for the word “nigger,” aggregated by regions. Why is this a good measure of something traditionally very difficult to measure?

“Google data, evidence suggests, are unlikely to suffer from major social censoring,” Stephens-Davidowitz wrotein a previous paper. “Google searchers are online and likely alone, both of which make it easier to express socially taboo thoughts. Individuals, indeed, note that they are unusually forthcoming with Google.” He also notes that the Google measure correlates strongly with other standard measures social science researchers have used to study racist attitudes.